Brian Brooks On 27 May, Brian Brooks spoke to a gathering of about 20 members of Rainbow Wellington. Brian was the first Chair of the (Auckland based) Homosexual Law Reform Society in the early 1970s. In those days such posts were often filled by well-known radicals who were not themselves gay, but firmly believed in the liberalisation of the law. Brian was then a prominent left-wing lawyer, who also won fame as the only person ever to successfully sue Robert Muldoon for libel. He later became Dean and Professor of Law at the Victoria University of Wellington. Brian spoke of the early moves towards decriminalisation in the context of the era. He emphasised the different planet which was New Zealand in the 1960s. It was a very conformist and oppressive place, where Britain was “home”, even to those who had never been there, and we even had a heresy trial. However, changes were already afoot, with a new dawn of Maori radicalism replacing the myth of “perfect race relations”, the beginnings of the feminist movement, and above all the Vietnam War and the reaction to that. Within this context there were the first serious attempts to decriminalise male homosexuality. Brian's contribution to this was threefold. He ran a talkback radio programme, in which he raised the issue for the first time. When instructed by the management never to mention the topic again, he read out their letter on air. Callers were planted regularly, who would bring up the issue. He also chaired public meetings, and paid tribute at this point to the brave people who were prepared to come along a support the cause, often at considerable risk to their own well-being. He was also involved in lobbying. In 1968 a petition for law reform was presented to Parliament. When the Evening Post commented on this, and pointed out the statistical probability that there could actually be gay MPs, they were very swiftly forced to withdraw and offer a cringing apology. The advent of a Labour government in 1972 was a great disappointment in this context, as there remained strong opposition to reform within the Labour caucus, led by the Prime Minister himself, Norman Kirk. As it was of course, despite a few attempts at reform, we had to await the 4th Labour Government under David Lange in the 1980s, before reform was finally realised. Brian commented that when he organised a 10th anniversary celebration at the University Law School in 1996, there was still opposition. Brian was thanked for his interesting and revealing talk, which was followed by vigorous debate amongst those present. The main issue was how far we had actually come since then, and how accepting New Zealand actually is of gay people. Brian himself pointed out the prevalence of the phrase “PC”, which is regularly used to shut down debate. There was agreement that we can never rest of our laurels, however much things have improved over the years. Our Chair Tony Simpson, who is also President of the NZ Society of Authors, concluded by giving us further reading matter. He pointed out how that the famous essay Fretful sleepers, by Bill Pearson, dating from 1952, is a classical description of what the country was like in those days. Pearson was a closeted gay, so one can now read between the lines to get at further intended meaning. A new biography of Pearson, No Fretful Sleeper, by Paul Millar, has recently been published by Auckland University Press. The original essay is available online. - Antony Reed, Rainbow Wellington Antony Reed - 3rd June 2010